The gall of some people. Apparently Malcolm Gladwell has gone after John Paulson for giving $400 million to Harvard University. It takes a special kind of immorality to feel comfortable doing any of the following: (a) bossily telling other people how to spend their own money, (b) telling them how to spend their philanthropic dollars, […]
On Gladwell’s chastising Paulson Read More »
For use in my courses, additions to my Texts in Philosophy page. All files are PDFs. “Arachne and Athena.” James Buchanan, “Public Choice: Politics without Romance,” Policy Magazine (2003). Martin Heidegger, “Reunion Speech” (1934). HTML version here. Heinrich Himmler, “Speech at Posen” (1943). John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926). HTML version here. John
Texts in Philosophy — early 2015 additions Read More »
I was struck by this reflection on the history of philosophy, made by Adolf Hitler, who read voraciously when young and especially during his prison time in the 1920s: “In the Great Hall of the Linz Library are the busts of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the greatest of our thinkers, in comparison with whom the
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Will Altman: “It is perfectly natural to feel loyalty to the thinker who set you to thinking, to the writer whose writings first made you a careful and devoted reader, and whose example inspired your own way of life as a philosopher.” Altman’s words appear in the concluding chapter of his book on Martin Heidegger,
Loyalty to your first great intellectual love Read More »
[I wrote the following in 1999 in response to several people who wrote to me with objections to my and others’ use of The Will to Power in interpreting Nietzsche.] Dear [ ]: Every word in The Will to Power was written by Nietzsche in his notebooks of 1883-1888. Some of the notes were his
On the legitimacy of Nietzsche’s *The Will to Power* Read More »
A commentator at my site objects to my discussion of Existentialism and the meaning of life: “In all honesty this is just a bunch of JibJab with really no actual true meaning funny how people waste years and thousands studying this irrelevant b***** go out side be outdoors live a little bit” The Urban Dictionary
Philosophy as a bunch of jibjab Read More »
An amusing line from Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), the great German essayist: “One should forgive one’s enemies, but not before they are hanged.” The line is rhetorically similar to Augustine’s “Give me chastity, oh Lord, but not yet,” from Book 8 of Confessions.
Heine on forgiving one’s enemies, but not too soon Read More »
I recommend this strong piece by Nick Cohen in Standpoint magazine out of Britain, on the downward spiral of the anti-free-speech movement. Related: Three of my recent pieces on the state of free speech: * On the German decision: “Is Republishing Hitler’s Mein Kampf the Correct Decision?“ (Portuguese translation.) * On censorship in British universities:
Nick Cohen on how PC is devouring its own Read More »